Paper Puppet Show
by Myosotis Scorpioides
Summary: Welcome to the paper puppet show where actors will become puppets for mass media's entertainment.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!

* * *

 _ **Paper Puppet Show**_

 **Prologue**

Ren unlocks the door to his apartment drenched from rain. The rain is a lot stronger than last night, the sky almost seems sad, as if the downpour was it's tears. He enters his house that shows no signs of somebody else being there beside him. There's not even a single light that's on and there's only his shoes in the hallway.

Ren takes off his shoes and throws his damp jacket on the floor. As he walks to the living-room area he switches light on everywhere he can without taking a detour. When there is only one switch left to press - the one for the lights in the living-room - to illuminate most of his apartment, he sees her face lit by the smartphone in her hands. He hits the last light switch making the darkness in the room disappear.

He walks towards her, but it seems that she doesn't hear his steps, doesn't even notice that she is no longer surrounded by the dark. She's still in her Box-R school uniform, hinting that she got here as soon as she finished her scenes for the day. She's sitting on the sofa with her shoes thrown next to it and her hair still a bit wet from the rain. She doesn't move even when Ren sits down next to her, keeping her eyes on the phone screen. But her eyes are blank, and even though she's looking down onto the screen it doesn't seem as if she's minding any of the letters flashing on it as she scrolls down. Even the thumb that she does the motion with seems to be controlled by somebody else and not by her.

Ren glances at the phone screen reading few of the sentences. Just what he expected. He takes the phone from her hands and throws it where he sat few seconds ago while kneeling in front of her.

"Kyoko..." Ren says softly and she lifts her eyes to meet his. The moment he can clearly see her face her eyes become alive again. He reaches her cheek with his hand and just as Ren is about to touch her she starts crying.

* * *

AN: Positive and negative reviews are welcome.


	2. Act I: Love And Other Bad Omens

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!

* * *

 _ **Paper Puppet Show**_

 **ACT I**

 **Love And Other Bad Omens**

"Mogami-san it's already quite late, would you like me to drop you off?" Ren asked Kyoko after she finished her scene.

"But what about Yashiro-san?" It was already after midnight when she started filming it and had no idea if it was really late. When she took out her phone, the clock on her look screen showed 3:27 am. She was really tired. Even if it was cameo appearance it took a lot out of her. But that is to be expected from the drama that her respectable senpai played in.

"Don't worry Kyoko-chan I live near here. I'll walk home." Yashiro butted in and ran off just as suddenly grinning, before Kyoko was able to even utter a word. Well actually that was a lie, but it was such a perfect opportunity for him to get Kyoko and Ren closer, that Yashiro just couldn't pass it up.

"I guess that settles it. I'll wait in the car for you to get changed." Ren walked off, leaving Kyoko wander how does she get herself into situations like this all the time until she ran off to change into her clothes.

* * *

They drove in awkward silence - well it was awkward for Kyoko since she was thinking about what she should say, while Ren had no problem with it - until he noticed her face which had her feelings written all over it and turned on the radio. Kyoko relaxed as the need to disturb the silence by talking disappeared. Also the song that was on at the moment was one of Kyoko's favorites, she wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she knew all of the words to it. Kyoko reached one of the buttons and turned the volume up, relaxing into her seat even more. She could feel sleep talking over her when she noticed Ren looking at her.

"You can sleep if you want, I'll wake you up when we reach Darumaya." he said calmly. He was pretty sure that Kyoko wasn't used to such late hours, always being the health-freak that she is. He had no intention of teasing her, but after the words left his mouth he could see Kyoko's face becoming redder and redder until it became as red as Ren doubted that human could be.

"N-no i-it's okay... I-it's just t-that... It's just that..this song is very relaxing don't you agree?" Kyoko finally said diverting her eyes from Ren. She was so embarrassed. Tsuruga-san was nice enough to drive her home, even though Darumaya was in opposite direction than his apartment and the moment she got a little comfortable she was falling asleep right away, as if mocking him! She heard Ren start laughing and if she wouldn't have been as red already she would've blushed even more.

Suddenly Ren's laugh stopped and she heard him cursing. She lifted her eyes to see the source of his distress when she noticed a car that they were about to drive into. She looked at Ren and saw fear in his eyes as he grabbed the wheel even harder trying to avoid collision. Luckily he was able to avoid it, but their car spun out of control and they could hear the wheels screeching as the car crashed into a concrete wall.

As the airbags deployed Kyoko saw black losing her conciseness. Next to her, Ren was completely awake as the pain shot through his right arm and white material covered his vision. He was left re-living the night that Rick died until airbags deflated completely. _"What if it happened again? What if I killed a person again? What if I killed Kyoko..?"_ Such thoughts were running through his mind as he turned to the drivers seat. He couldn't see any blood and that was a good sign. He tried calling out to her, but she didn't respond. A shiver went down Ren's spine as he looked through his pockets for the smartphone.

When he finally found it his whole body was shivering from shock. His shaky hands were only able to unlock the phone at third try. He quickly found the number he was looking for in the contacts and pressed 'call'.

It was a while before the beeping stopped and sleepy male voice in the other end started talking "For God's sake Ren what is it at such a late hour?"

"B-boss...I can't-... I-I'm afraid I killed her..." Ren forced out. His voice was just as shaky as his hands.

"What?! Who?!" The voice was no longer sleepy. Those few words would be enough to wake up anyone.

"I was d-driving... Car crashed.. K-Kyoko... She's n-not responding..." He reached his hand to shake Koyoko's shoulder when she remained unconscious Ren heard Tina's voice in his head. _"Oh how right she was.."_

"Ren calm down. Have you checked her pulse and if she's breathing?" When President's calm voice interrupted Ren's thoughts he was grateful for it. He wanted to kick himself for not thinking about such obvious things from the start. First he took her hand into his and put two fingers on her wrist. He wasn't sure if her pulse was good, but it defiantly was there. Next, he unbuckled his seat belt and leaned so that his ears were inline with her nose. He sighed as he heard her breathing steadily.

After putting her hand back onto her lap ran once again pressed the phone to his ear and conveyed everything to Lory.

"Okay then. I've already called the paramedics, they will be taking you to a private hospital. So how about you? Are you hurt?"

"Tsuruga-san..?" Kyoko's voice interrupted him just as he was about to answer the question. He looked at her releasing his phone, letting it fall somewhere behind his seat. It seemed that she wasn't fully conscious yet, with her eyes only slightly open. "What happened...?" after voicing her question Kyoko's eyes flew open as she took in her surroundings.

"Well as you can see.." She tried to get out of her seat, but Ren stopped her. "Now more importantly do you think you're okay? Does anything hurt?"

"No, I think... I think I'm okay. But Tsuruga-san your arm looks weird!" And just like that Kyoko was back to her energetic self, only slightly panicked. At that moment Ren didn't know why, but he started to giggle then laugh. Kyoko just watched him with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"So you're really okay?" He managed to say while still laughing. Kyoko just nodded her head and continued to stare at him. Ren noticed this. "Okay, okay I'm shutting up.." He said trying to control himself. "You know you gave me quite a scare. Thought that you were already a goner." It was as of his mouth moved on it's own and understood things that his mind hasn't comprehended yet. _"So that was what that laughing fit was about... Relief..."_ He smiled. The joy from the fact she was okay overtook him. "You know what... I love you." After saying this his smile grew even bigger.

Suddenly Kyoko stiffened in her seat and her expression changed to horrified. That's when he understood what he just said.

Smile in Ren's face fell.

 _"Oh, shit..."_

* * *

Ren closed door to the nurses office. It seems that his right arm was broken. He sighed. Kyoko was okay. She only had few bruises and all the shock from the accident and all the fatigue from the day made her pass-out. After checking them both paramedics came to a conclusion - it was a miracle. Usually people die in accidents like this, but they got away with minor injuries. All the way to the hospital they kept saying that they were extremely lucky.

The moment the help came he asked to check if Kyoko was actually okay. Though she ignored the paramedics asking to check him first, because he kept blabbering nonsense and she was worried he might have hit his head. Hard. Well it was his own fault letting his mouth run loose like that. But in this past half an hour while the quiet nurse was putting cast on his arm he got to think. Saying that he loved her was so easy. It felt so right. That made him decide to say it again. Even if she will reject him.

After he walked few corridors and took an elevator down to first floor he saw her sitting in a chair and talking to someone on the phone.

"No, I'm really okay. Just got scared, that's all. I'll be back a bit latter than I had, that's all." She was talking to Okami-san and trying to calm her down since she called ten minutes ago, worried that Kyoko still wasn't back. She lifted her head and noticed Ren walking towards her. She had to talk to him about _that_. "Okami-san I need to go now, we'll talk when I get back." After saying this she ended the call without letting Okami-san say anything. She felt guilty for making the older woman worry and for ending their conversation so suddenly, but at the moment she had different priorities. It seemed that Tsuruga-san also wanted to talk to her since he was slowing down his pace until he completely stopped in front of her.

"Mogami-san we need to talk about what I said at the car-"

"You don't need to worry about that. I know that you didn't mean what you said." Kyoko interrupted Ren. She was wearing an extremely tired expression on her face. Those words seemed strange to her. If he would have really hit his head it would've been easier to explain, after finding out that his head suffered no such incident she shortly doubted that _maybe he did mean it._ But now she understood why he was saying such nonsense - it was all the shock and stress that was talking. Kyoko looked down to her feat because she wasn't confident enough to keep looking at Ren's face.

"Actually I did mean it." Those words surprised Kyoko and she almost lifted hear head, but controlled herself. Tears were pilling up in her eyes and she had no desire that the man in front of her would see her cry. Ren looked down to her, but couldn't see her face. _"So much for decide-what-to-say-next-by-her-expression tactic.."_ He sighed as he thought about the worst-case scenario and continued "And you don't need to feel any pressure. I know you don't feel the same way about me. Let's not let this cloud our relationship and stay friends, how about that?" He could feel pain in his chest as he said those words yet he smiled softly, maybe it was for the best.

"But I do.." Kyoko forced out the words with all her strength, yet they came out as a barely hearable whisper. She was tired from hiding her feelings. Maybe he was only teasing her, like he liked to do, but so what?

"Pardon?" Ren asked confused. She said it so quietly that he was sure he misheard her answer.

This time she used everything she had to look up, straight into Ren's eyes and said it again.

"But I feel the same." This time her effort payed off as her words came out confident and loud. "I also ... love you". Ren stared back at her for few seconds with a dumbfounded expression on his face, then he pulled her into a tight hug and Kyoko finally let herself cry.

"I'm glad" Was all that he said. He didn't even try to stop he from crying, he just wished to stay like this forever.

* * *

AN: I'm really grateful for all the reviews I received and I'm sorry if the characters seem OOC, but it's my first Skip Beat fanfic and I can't tell if I start writing OOC and not how they actually are. I've actually finished this a lot sooner than I thought I would so I'm not sure I'll be able to write the next chapter as fast as I wrote this one.

About the laughing fit - I've read somewhere a while ago that laugh is involuntary action to let others know that you're okay.

Positive and negative reviews are welcome.


	3. ACT II: New Beginnings And Awkwardness

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!

* * *

 _ **Paper Puppet Show**_

 **ACT II**

 **New Beginnings And A Lot Of Awkwardness**

In that mornings news there was nothing about their accident. Well that was a given, Boss was great at concealing things like this after being in showbiz as long as he has. Though there was news about the car they almost crashed into. There was a small article about it on the news site Ren was on, usually he doesn't read articles like this, because they don't interest him, but he read it after recognising the car. It seems that the driver was drunk. Police arrested him when he crashed into a pole few blocks away from where they crashed.

Ren smiled remembering what happened at the hospital after the incident. He was feeling as if he wanted to shout that he loves Kyoko to the whole Tokyo, from the top of his lungs. This sensation was so new to him. Though they decided to keep things secret from everyone for a while. Just until they get used to this feeling. After that they will reveal it to their closest friends.

He was still in bed even though it was well past the time he was usually up. It was almost midday actually. The President called him earlier in the morning to give a month off until his arm heals. He tried arguing, but there was no winning against that man as he only said that Ren was ahead of his schedule anyway and just hang up the phone. It felt a bit weird not needing to rush to the set, after all he never took time off from his job.

He put his smartphone down on the pillow next to him and tried turning on his side. Ren groaned as it turned out to be more than a bit uncomfortable. The cast was such a pain in the ass. Ren decided to stay in earlier position and picked up his phone. He disconnected the WiFi and closed the article before dialing Kyoko's number. Actually that was what Ren wanted to do since he was woken up by Boss' phone call, but because last night was quite eventful he didn't want to wake her up - if she wasn't already awake - and decided to wait for more reasonable time to call.

Ren only had to wait few beeps after pressing 'call' as she was quick to pick up.

"Good morning, Tsuruga-san!" Kyoko's cheerful voice greeted him.

"Good morning, Kyoko. But why is it that you still call me 'Tsuruga-san', weren't we on first name basis?" Ren replied while grinning. He could imagine her face going red. It was a shame that he couldn't see her right now. In these few moments of silence between them while Kyoko was thinking what to say back, he could hear noise in the background as if she was on a busy street.

"Why do you always tease me?" Kyoko finally replied loudly, almost shouting. "...Ren..." His stage name she said so quietly that it was almost a whisper. Not to further her embarrassment Kyoko quickly changed the topic "So how are you feeling?"

They got on with their usual chitchat; Kyoko asking if he has eaten yet, Ren trying to change the subject and failing, being forced to admit that he still hasn't had a meal. Then Kyoko giving a moral for not taking care of himself properly. He was glad that at least their phone conversations weren't awkward as you would expect would be, having just entered the relationship. Well talking in person was a whole different thing and he didn't know if it will go as smoothly, but this was a start.

"Then how about you come and cook something for me?" Ren asked teasingly when Kyoko finished awfully long monolog about the importance of eating healthy.

"Then I will!" She replied not wasting a second, still heated from the discussion she just had with herself. It was too quick for a well thought out answer and Ren thought that she might have only said it on reflex, but even after a while she didn't take back her words.

"So it's a deal." Ren said finally getting out of bed.

* * *

It was already noon when Kyoko showed up at his door-step with a bag full of groceries. At first Ren tried helping her with the small things and it didn't take long for her to realise that he was useless in kitchen and only got in her way, so she shooed him out to the living room area asking him to stay put and just watch TV with a promise of at least letting him set the table.

Eye-to-eye encounter was a lot different than their phone call. Kyoko found herself blushing and freezing up from embarrassment more than she expected to. Actually when Ren saw that she can't reach one of the bowls and decided to help by taking it down for her, Kyoko almost dropped the one she was holding in her hands. That was the most important reason why Kyoko chased him out of the kitchen as she was afraid to doze-off and set something accidentally on fire during such collisions. Well not that it helped much since she was still unable to concentrate properly.

And Ren seemed so calm! How could he be so calm when she about to pass-out from this strange feeling?!

Kyoko worked quietly from time to time stopping to murmur something under her breath as Ren pretended to watch TV while actually looking at her all the time. Sometimes she would also glance at him through the corner for her eye, but she never caught him looking at her since he always was quick enough to avert his eyes.

The awkwardness together with it's partner silence didn't leave them through their meal as well. It bothered Kyoko that through those few hours that they spent together they only exchanged few words, but she had no idea what to say so she kept her eyes glued to the TV all through the meal.

"What are you going to do with all that free time we've got?" Ren asked her while they were washing the dishes. It was the longest sentence he said to her since she came to his apartment.

"Hm?" Kyoko said clearly startled.

"With the free month? We could go somewhere..." He replied lifting his eyes up to look at her.

"Oh.. I only have few days off, today and the ones that I would've had anyway. I managed to refuse the President, because I wasn't injured, but it took quite a while." She sighed "Actually when you called me I was going home from LME."

"Huh? So I'm the only one on forced leave." Ren shaked his head with a slight smile on his lips. "Anyway what were you doing at LME? Did Boss call you?"

"No, no." She blushed slightly "I was supposed to work today, so I went there like usual, but after talking with me President shooed me home." Ren started laughing. That was such a typical Kyoko.

After their little talk all the tension magically disappeared. Well at least for the most part, there were still some awkward freeze ups. They spent the evening enjoying each other's company and talking away like there was no tomorrow. Kyoko insisted upon cooking for Ren whenever she could and he agreed, she also tried convincing him in helping with other things, but he politely refused and didn't give in no matter how hard she tried. In the end Kyoko had to give up on the idea.

* * *

It was about 10 p.m. when Kyoko decided that she needed to get home.

"Will you come tomorrow at the same time?" Ren asked while walking her to the door.

"I'll try, but I already promised to help out at Darumaya so I can't say for sure if I'll make it." She put on her shoes and unlocked the door. After taking first few steps into the hallway she was startled as Ren gently pulled her into a kiss.

At first her eyes were wide with surprise, but momentarily Kyoko gave into the kiss closing her eyes and kissing Ren back. When Ren pulled away she blushed furiously because the kiss left her wanting for more. She Kyoko hid her face in crook of Ren's neck when she heard him softly whisper into her ear -

"Call me when you get home."

"Ehem" a man made his presence known at the other end of the hallway. Both Kyoko and Ren turned in the direction that the voice came from to see who it was.

"Ya-Yashiro-san..?" Kyoko stuttered "What are you doing here..?"

"Well I thought I'd come and keep Ren company, but I guess he doesn't need me." The manager replied with a mischievous grin on his face.

* * *

AN: It's been awhile since I've updated sorry :/ I was busy and got Gangsta. fever so I wasn't able to write more than a sentence for a while :/ I would like to say that I'll write next chapter soon, but it might take a lot longer than it took to write this one since I'm starting new school, but I'll do my best.

Actually I'm not happy with this chapter since it seems too cheesy and OCC to me, so if you think so as well leave it in reviews and I'll rewrite it again :)

I'm really thankful for all the reviews I received, They really make me happy. *hug*

Positive and negative reviews are welcome.


	4. ACT III: Joys of Everyday Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!

* * *

 _ **Paper Puppet Show**_

 **ACT III**

 **Joys of Everyday Life**

Three of them ended up returning to Ren's apartment and talking about the matter in his kitchen over a cup of tea. It was Ren who did most of the talking though as Kyoko was still embarrassed and would blush wildly every time she looked up to eater Yashiro or Ren and the actor's manager just kept grinning while listening to him. To say that Kyoko was shocked over this turn of events would be quite an understatement, she expected Yashiro to at least be surprised, but he looked as if he was expecting, no waiting for them to get together for a while. She didn't want to believe that her feelings were seen through that easily though, after all she was an actress, she was supposed to be good at pretending. Well President did see through her, but that was a different matter.

"Congratulations~~~!" Yashiro said in overly-enthusiastic tone of voice after Ren finished talking, the grin not leaving his lips even for a second. "It took you long enough though." Manager added while sipping his tea and looking at his charge. He was genuinely happy for Ren and Kyoko. He was getting tired watching them dance around each other trying to hide what everyone else saw, except them themselves. Sometimes he would get so annoyed that he thought about spilling the beans to one of them and watching everything unfold.

"Yashiro," Ren started talking once again "I would appreciate if you would keep our relationship a secret from everyone, you're the only one that knows and we would like to keep it like that at least for a little while." He said those words while flashing the manager his gentlemanly smile to with Yashiro replied a very-fake, very-obviously-forced smile of his own while sweat dropping.

"O-of course! Anyway it's really late, i-isn't it? Already 12p.m. time flies... I better get going~." The older man tried to cover-up his nervousness. It was obvious that Ren was displeased with his manager finding out his new relationship status. The actor could practically hear the teases he will be hearing from Yashiro for the next few months. Just imagining it was enough to make him feel irritated.

"I should get going too." Kyoko said after Yashiro had closed the door and left. She was finally back to her normal self, well almost, she was still moving stiffly. As she was already putting on her shoes Ren's hand gently stopped hers.

"It's midnight, if you're set on leaving then let me at least call you a taxi." He let go of her hand and smirked before continuing "But I would prefer it if you stayed the night here." Ren watched as the actress' face turned pink. It looked as if she was trying to say something, but wasn't able to force the voice out of her mouth. Oh how he love teasing her... "I thought so. Wait for a bit." Ren took his phone and started dialing taxi serves' number.

* * *

It was very unusual, but the next morning Kyoko managed to oversleep. She was shocked when she opened her eyes and the clock in her room showed it to be almost midday. What's even worse was that she also started daydreaming while taking a shower and ended up standing under running water for 20 minutes and the only thing that managed to wake her up was when the water turned cold. Kyoko was finally allowing herself to think of Ren romantically and she liked having those thoughts, yet she was so mad at herself for acting so out of character since the morning.

Kyoko got dressed and ran down the stairs. She was an hour late for her shift. As she looked around she noticed Okami-san coming her way. Okami-san was holding two empty bowls and looked quite surprised to see Kyoko in her Darumaya uniform.

"Morning Kyoko-chan." The woman said looking concerned before Kyoko was able to start talking herself. "What are you doing? I said that you don't need to help out, the accident must have caused a lot of stress. Besides you came back very late yesterday, you must be tired."

"Good morning Okami-san. I'm very sorry that I'm late, but I'm fine. Besides I promised to help out already since few weeks ago and you're really busy" Kyoko said as she looked around. "You could use extra hands."

"Okay, okay I give up. There's no winning against you is there, Kyoko-chan? But only the rush hour after that you take off your uniform and relax." Okami-san sighed taking both bowls into one hand and pointing Kyoko han to the table at the very corner of the shop. "Then could you please take order from the customer over there?" Kyoko nodded and walked off in the direction of the table while Okami-san carried the bowls to the kitchen to be washed.

* * *

It was already after the rush hour, when Darumaya was packed, when Kyoko received a message from Ren saying to be ready in half an hour and wait in front of Darumaya. A black BMW with tinted windows wasn't even a minute late to pick her up. At first she was hesitant, but then one of the rear windows lowered revealing familiar face of Ren Tsuruga disguised as Cain Heel.

"Kyoko-chan hurry up and get in~!" Muse-sama's voice came from somewhere inside the car. Kyoko opened the vehicle door and hopped in beside Ren in the backseat. Ren was in full costume of Cain Heel, but from one look into his eyes she knew he wasn't engrossed in his role. He was smiling at her a soft smile that made her blushed as she smiled back. Muse-sama was the one driving so they only exchanged greetings and she focused on starting the engine

"I'm sorry this is so unexpected. I hope you don't mind it though. I need you to dress as Setsu-chan again." The actor said as the car moved from it's place and drove past Darumaya. Kyoko looked completely lost, but she still nodded. Ren almost felt sorry for doing this to her, but it was supposed to be a surprise and she looked cute with this kind of expression on her face.

They arrived at Ren's apartment where Ten had all of the things necessary to turn Kyoko into Setsuka. This time Kyoko wore indigo colored figure hugging corset-like top with black patterns on it along with leather mini skirt of the same color, leather jacket and black stiletto heels with spikes on the back of them.

When the beautician was satisfied with her work she let Kyoko go to the living room where Ren was waiting for her. He was sitting there and going through the channels trying to find something to help him pass the time. When he heard the sound of her shoes the actor turned to her direction and smiled. He was a bit displeased at her mini skirt as he would prefer Ten would have given her something at least a bit more covering to wear, like pants. They were not staying at his place after all and she would make men stare at her even with them so why did she need to catch even more of their attention. Yes, even if it was a bit embarrassing Ren was jealous. He ignored those thoughts and stood up after turning off the TV.

"I know we already had plans, but how about we go on a date?"

* * *

AN: I'm sorry that this chapter is more like a filler. And also I'm sorry for all the grammatical errors there were... It's just that school's really hard and I can't concentrate properly on anything. And my mind's blank so I don't know what to write. I haven't updated in awhile and I really wanted to update it for I'm afraid that if I leave this story for too long I might lose interest in writing it at all. I've also been thinking about changing the plot, it seems so cliche to me. Uggh I'm so lost right now. Maybe I should get beta reader since I doubt I could write this without completely messing it up. Maybe one of you guys could help me with it.

Anyway I've rambled for long enough.

Positive and negative reviews are welcome


End file.
